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Re: Using Jquery or CSS to create accessible charts. Is this a real solution for accessibility?

for

From: Patrick Dunphy
Date: May 12, 2011 8:33AM

My thinking for doing this was the data represented via the visualization
(i.e. pie chart) needed an alternative to give context for those that can't
see the image itself. The data table achieved this goal - so in this case I
would believe this to be enough.

Ours was a simple case (population groups broken into segments of mother
tongue, ethnic origin, etc) but I wouldn't think it's a one size fits all
scenario. It may work but that depends on the complexity of the data you're
trying to represent.

Thanks!
-PD





On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 3:54 PM, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> >wrote:

> PD,
> That actually sounds interesting and brings another question. Is it enough
> to have only an accessible data table available along with the chart?
> In other words, can I assume that by providing the table I am providing a
> "description"?
>
> Thanks
> Giovanni
>
>
> ----- Reply message -----
> From: "Patrick Dunphy" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Date: Wed, May 11, 2011 2:34 pm
> Subject: [WebAIM] Using Jquery or CSS to create accessible charts. Is this
> a real solution for accessibility?
> To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>
> For a recent project I worked on we required several pie charts on over 300
> pages. Because these pages were generated by a highly customized CMS,
> HTML5
> and dynamic capabilities weren't really an option.
>
> We went low-tech & leveraged Google Charts to create these static images.
> To keep the data in an accessible format, we reused the data to create the
> charts to created accessible data tables which we then positioned offscreen
> via CSS.
>
> Probably not what you're looking for but I'd be interested to hear people's
> thoughts on this usage.
>
> Thanks!
> -PD
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 2:37 PM, Giovanni Duarte < <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > I am wondering if any of the solutions available for creating charts are
> > REALLY accessible. I found a list of Jquery libraries (
> >
> >
> http://www.instantshift.com/2010/03/09/50-free-resources-for-charts-and-grap
> > hs-solution/ ) and CSS libraries
> > (http://sixrevisions.com/css/css_techniques_charting_data/ ).
> >
> > I have two questions about these solutions:
> > 1. Are these truly accessible? Can a screen reader "understand" the
> chart?
> > 2. Is an impaired user able to understand the chart by having the screen
> > reader only? Do you think an alternative description is still necessary?
> >
> > What I am trying to determine is if we should invest time and resources
> to
> > use this type of Jquery libraries or if we should only concentrate on the
> > use of descriptions.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Giovanni
> >
> >